Bundesliga: Bayern Face The Stampeding Bulls

Bayern Munich vs RB Leipzig

Red Bull Leipzig head to Munich for the Bundesliga match of the weekend on Saturday and they have a point to prove. Already beaten by the champions in this campaign and well off the pace Leipzig are hungry for revenge…but they have some momentum.

After a poor start to the 2021 campaign, which lingered longer than their fans would have hoped, die Roten Bullen changed managers and have been on something of a charge, reaching sixth place in the league table, three points behind Union Berlin who occupy the fourth Champions League spot. They come into the game on the back of a 2-0 victory over Wolfsburg while Bayern won 4-1 away to Hertha Berlin.

The hosts are six points clear at the top of the table, with Borussia Dortmund proving difficult to shake off.

Talking Points

Bayern keen to avoid another Blip

Serie A

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On their return from the winter break the Bavarians suffered a defeat to Borussia Monchengladbach and they have recovered admirably, with two big away victories, a 4-0 thrashing of Koln and then that big win in Berlin. Two players are set to write the Bavarian Bundesliga 2022 news headlines, as they do year on year. Prolific striker Robert Lewandowski has scored 23 goals in 20 league games while his partner Thomas Muller has made 17 assists.

Head coach Julian Nagelsmann knows he can rely on these two experienced and world-class campaigners, but this Bayern side has showed that it can be devastating even when Lewi and Muller have a day off. The Polish star drew a rare blank against Hertha Berlin and Muller didn’t make an assist, though he was on the score sheet alongside Corentin Tolisso, Leroy Sane and Serge Gnabry. Joshua Kimmich provided two of the assists. Gnabry’s goal took him to ten for the campaign while Sane, in his best form since his arrival in Munich, now has six goals and eight assists.

Leon Goretzka and Alphonso Davies are both sidelined for this huge match but Bayern have plenty of depth and quality which should ensure they can avoid another blip. Borussia Dortmund are six points behind and if that gap narrows any further it could get interesting, which is not what Nagelsmann wants.

Tedesco’s Leipzig are on the up

Four wins on the bounce has lifted the spirits throughout Red Bull Leipzig and it was a change of manager which seems to have sparked a revival at the ambitious club.

Domenico Tedesco's RB Leipzig are sitting on the sixth spot in the Bundesliga table — RB Leipzig coach Domenico Tedesco during their match against VfL Wolfsburg

36-year-old Domenico Tedesco took over following the sacking of Jesse Marsch and since his arrival in December the new boss has led his side to four wins and 13 points from his six games in charge, lifting the club from 11th to sixth and well in touch with the top four. Only two years older than Nagelsmann, Tedesco has already had success as a coach, leading Spartak Moscow to second place in the Russian Premier League and a place in the Champions League qualifying rounds. The 48-year-old Marsch was sacked after just four months in charge and the American will surely admit his gifted bunch of players was underperforming.

Attacking midfielder Christopher Nkunku has nine goals and seven assists, and striker Andre Silva has eight goals and both have proven pedigree. And with the experienced Peter Gulacsi in goal and Willi Orban at the heart of defence this is a tough side to break down, conceding just once in three games.

The champions are down to a price of around 1.02 to win the title, according to the very latest Bundesliga betting odds, but Red Bull will be keen to show they are still a force to be reckoned with and, if they can upset the Bavarians we’ll see a shift in those odds.

History

Since they hit the big time Red Bull have won only one of their 13 meetings with FC Bayern, drawing four and losing eight, and when the two teams met in Leipzig in September, Bayern ran out 4-1 winners as Lewandowski opened the floodgates with an early penalty.

When playing at home Bayern have been unbeaten against Red Bull in their last five encounters, and the visitors’ record away from home this season has not been impressive with just one win from nine trips.

Betting Tip

	Bayern Munich vs RB Leipzig	Under 3.50 @ 1.88
	February 6, 01:30 (GMT+8)

Bayern are hot favourites to win this game at SBOTOP odds of 1.42 with the draw at 4.84 and Leipzig at a price of 5.60. Red Bull’s revival makes this a much better prospect for the neutral fan, and I don’t expect this to be another 4-1 to Bayern. The visitors will try to keep the Bavarians’ sensational attack quiet for as long as possible, and if they can stay in the game then Leipzig have a dangerous attacking threat of their own.